A NEW AGREEMENT TO SUPPLY wind energy to Massachusetts sets a price much lower than what is proposed for Deepwater Wind's Block Island demonstration project, largely a result of the Bay State project being land-based.

BOSTON – An agreement announced earlier this week is likely to stir more controversy over the Cape Wind and Deepwater Wind projects, according to CommonWealth magazine.

The story notes that the agreement between six utilities and wind energy developers First Wind, Iberdrola Renewables and Exergy Development Group for 565 megawatts of power calls for a weighted average price of less than 8 cents per kilowatt-hour. That price stands in comparison to the 18.7 cents per kilowatt-hour that National Grid and NStar have agreed to pay for Cape Wind energy and the 24 cent per kilowatt-hour from Deepwater Wind’s Block Island five-turbine demonstration project, which escalates every year by 3.5 percent (the electricity price for the proposed utility-scale wind energy project that Deepwater Wind won the federal auction to develop off the Rhode Island and Massachusetts coasts has not been set yet).

First Wind Holdings LLC is one of the investors in Deepwater Wind, with 16 wind energy projects that generate 980 megawatts of electricity across six states.

The proposed large-scale project that Deepwater Wind plans to build is expected to have roughly 900 MW worth of generating capacity.

The signing of the 565 megawatt procurement agreement must still be approved by the Mass. Department of Public Utilities, according to the Boston Business Journal.

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